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May 08, 2014

Russell Ackoff Doctoral Fellowship from Wharton School

Doctoral student Minji Kim is the recipient of the Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowship Award for 2014 from the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.

Kim’s research will focus on determining the effectiveness of anti-smoking public service announcements with different themes (e.g. negative health consequences on smokers vs. secondhand smoking) that are customized to the level of race, gender, and age of the audiences. This builds upon research that indicates that the used of tailored communication using exemplar or persuader characters that are similar to the target audience are more effective.

The fellowships provide financial support for the students to conduct specific research projects. In addition to supporting the cost of research, one of the goals of the Ackoff awards is to foster a sense of community among scholars at Penn involved in research on decision making.

Kim is the seventh Annenberg student to receive this fellowship. Hyun Suk Kim, Susan Mello (Gr ’13), and Dina Shapiro-Luft received the fellowship for their individual projects in 2012; Shapiro-Luft also received the honor in 2010. Cabral Bigman-Galimore (Gr ‘11) and Peter Busse (Gr ‘11) received fellowships in 2011. Shawnika Hull (Gr ‘10) is a two-time recipient, receiving the honor in 2008 and 2009.